And so we come full circle….a month and approximately 4200 miles after we first began our trip by arriving in Paris and picking up Bitsy, we arrived back in Paris to return Bitsy – it was a bittersweet day and we we’re sad to see her go. Bitsy has been a real trooper: guiding us through city after city, sometimes thru dirty back roads, getting cursed out by Chris for her half-right directions, and even enduring Val’s tears as she tried to learn to drive manual. We’ll always think of her fondly 🙂

Our first day in Paris wasn’t the smoothest. Construction lead to some of the worst traffic we’ve ever sat in and most of the day was wasted stalled in traffic as we drove to check into our hotel to drop off our bags, then back to the airport to return Bitsy, then taking the train back in the city.

Here are a few photos Val snapped as we finagled our way around (don’t you love how black & white photography instantly elevates photographs to art?) –

Day 2 in Paris, we started off the day with a nice long-ish walk over to the metro station. Paris reminds us a lot of New York in that there’s hustle & bustle, great people watching, and you feel engrossed and entertained by the city just by walking and observing what’s around you. The architecture is beautiful and there are a lot of pedestrians and walking-only sectors.

We wanted to see the Catacombs, but got there too late in the day and the line was too long, so we wandered over to the Montparnasse Cemetery. It’s not nearly as morose as it sounds, it was very quiet and peaceful. It was very interesting to see how old a lot of the tombstones were, how ornate others were, and how some had very unique carvings, inlays, and sculptures.

From there we made our way over to the Luxembourg Palace and enroute came upon an outdoor flea market. So many knick-knacks, jewelry, silverware, antiques, art, and books to check out. We got a bit engrossed in separate stands and Val wandered off thinking that Chris had gone ahead (he hadn’t), so there were a few moments of worry as we walked around trying to reunite. Chris now wants to put one of those kid leashes on Val….

Safely reunited, we continued our walk towards the palace. Leading up to it is a beautiful stretch of gardens with fountains and sculptures.

The palace now houses the French Senate – you can read the history here:

It was another gorgeous day and the lawns of the gardens were packed with people enjoying the great weather. Between the super green grass and the brightness of the flowers, it was impossible not to be happy here.

The grounds are also home to the Medici Fountain and lots of other statues.

So far we are loving Paris and can’t wait to see everything else there is here!